Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1914 — LEARNED WANTS OF PEOPLE [ARTICLE]

LEARNED WANTS OF PEOPLE

Englishman Set Himself to Bupply Them, and Now Is Many Times a Millionaire. In the Strand Sir Joseph Lyons, the biggest caterer in England—perhaps in the world —tells the story of how he first conceived the idea of “feeding the masses.” It chanced, he says, that, to satisfy the inner man, one morning in the ’Bob I strolled into a dirty—to me, repellent—little London restaurant. These unappetizing establishments were almost invariably small, being limited in the capacities for cooking and serving of the man and his wife, with, perhaps, one or two waiters. They were so often invariably dark, stuffy little places; often infested with cockroaches; and as for their kitchens, they were things liable to cause nightmares—anyway, I prefer not to tell of them. The city clerk who wanted a snacli had to pay eight cents for a cup ol coffee or tea, a two-cent tip, and twt> or four cents for a bun. It goes without saying that these charges were beyond their slender means; result, he adjourned to the nearest bar and had a glass of beer. ' Well, on the occasion to which I refer I entered the said “restaurant,” ordered the least urimviting -dish I could hit upon, and turned things over in my mind during the unconscionably long time I had to wait for the arrival of my repast. I had often enough before this reflected how great fortunes had been made by the discovery of some simple universal want waiting to be supplied. In a flash It came to me that I had discovered just' such a simple, unsupplled universal want —clean and decent fare in bright and congenial surroundings at a reasonable price, i And there and then was laid the foundation stone of a business which now feeds about 2,000,000 of the inhabitants of London, and which on every working day in the year caters for over 600,000 men, Women and children—a business, too, which finds work for nearly -16,000 employes, which possesses 260 branches (the number is steadily increasing, both in London and the provinces), and which has no fewer than 120,000 agents throughout the- country 1 selling our “wares.” Yes, in a small way—and I write it with- due humility —a chance visit of a discontented artist to a flirty restaurant has exercised a considerable influence, indeed, over the lives of a very large -section of men, women and children in Great Britain.